The Prince And The Knight
by Lady Arianrhod
Summary: A princess had to be protected and cared for because she was weak. For this reason alone, Haruhi was a prince. And Mori, her knight. Haruhi centric, HaruMori Dedicated to Panther Eyes. Sequel to 'Rebuilding A Dream'.


Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club nor am I making a profit off of this story.

The Prince And The Knight

By Lady Arianrhod

"Waaaah!" Tamaki began to cry. "Haruhi is so mean to her poor father!"

She sighed and walked away. "Whatever." She muttered. Sometimes it was the only thing she could do in the situation.

She has always been strong of character. Not even her father can deny this. It was her mother's death that did this. Death has a way of changing everyone but it has a bigger impact on the young. Her mother's death left her disliking showing weakness in front of others. So she became stronger and took over her mother's household duties as best she could.

But even if her mother lived, Haruhi doubted that she would ever have grown up like one of those silly Ouran princesses that she attended classes with.

Princesses were meant for castles. They had fairy godmothers waiting in the wings to grant them their wishes or to take care of anything that wasn't going as planned. Princesses languished in high ivory towers waiting for true love to come to them in the form of a knight and rescue them so they could live happily ever after. Princesses weren't strong enough to take control of their own destiny. They needed someone to banish the evil spell or magical trial because they couldn't do it themselves.

Haruhi wasn't a princess because she was the Prince. She knew what she wanted and strove to make it happen. She solved her problems herself without help from anyone if she didn't need it. Haruhi overcame her own obstacles in her own time and kept her practical feet on the ground where they belonged. She was too occupied in the here and now to lose herself in fanciful imaginings of someone to take her away from her troubles. She didn't need such a person because she could handle said troubles on her own.

That is why she was the Prince.

"Haruhi." Tamaki called. "Your next customer is waiting for your attention."

Haruhi sighed internally and trudged over to one of her regulars. She had recently become proficient in listening and participating in a conversation with half her brain but using the other to think of other things. A useful skill that she put to work yet again. She returned to her earlier train of thought but regarding her fellow members of the Host Club. A series of revelations took place in her mind. If she were a prince, then what would they be classified as?

Tamaki styled himself as the Host Club King but it was Kyouya and not him that the title truly belonged to. Kyouya kept his eye on the bottom line making sure everyone in his little kingdom was satisfied and happy. Wasn't that the ultimate goal of a successful monarch? A happy kingdom was a profitable kingdom. Plus happy people were less likely to lynch you than angry, desperate ones.

Tamaki was a knight-errant. Knights were kind, tender hearted, emotional and chivalrous. Qualities that Tamaki had in spades. They were always looking for maidens in distress to rescue or a quest to keep boredom from setting in. They couldn't stand to see a wrong committed without trying to correct it. And they were always looking for new adventures.

"Thank you for your patronage." Haruhi bowed to the girl in front of her. As she moved on to her next customer, her eyes fell on Mori. Three girls who squealed as Mori wiped Hunny's face while they surrounded him.

There are two kinds of knights in legends, Haruhi discovered. The first, like Tamaki, impressed maidens by boasting of their prowess. Often, their feats were remembered simply because they would not let anyone forget about their daring adventures and courageous feats. And then there was the second kind like Mori.

The two shared similar traits. They were both intensely loyal, brave, too softhearted, despised villains and both couldn't resist a call for help from a beautiful maiden in distress. But Mori was the mysterious knight, the one who never spoke of his past until absolutely necessary. He never boasted of his feats and instead preferred not to be fawned over by gushing young maids. The tales of his prowess survived despite his unwillingness to have them known. He lived to protect and serve others. Even in this modern age, he lived and breathed the chivalric code of European medieval knights of old.

"Oh, Hikaru!" Kaoru breathed as he stared into his brother's eyes. They posed deliberately like that for more than a minute for maximum yaoi effect. Mysteriously, rose petals flew around them. (Haruhi noticed Kyouya letting go of a lever that had materialized out of nowhere.) One of the girls fainted and another had to be given a shake since it seemed she had forgotten to breathe in her excitement.

The twins were harder to categorize. In the end, they were most like jesters or minstrels. They memorized you with their talents until you felt you had to applaud. But watch your back, because if it's unprotected, you might end up as the fool. They always had an ulterior motive for everything they did. And they always kept one ear open for interesting tidbits of information.

"Takashi! Takashi!" Hunny said excitedly, "Look, I ate another slice of cake!"

Hunny's current customers squealed out various forms of "Kawaii!" One had to be rushed to the nurse after having been given CPR from a concerned Haruhi. The girl, whose heart had momentarily stopped, claimed that she was fine and ready for another moment with Hunny. The nurse disagreed and a private helicopter came and took her to her private clinic. Apparently Hunny had gained the new power of lethal cuteness.

Hunny was more along the lines of a lord. His knights protected him from harm and in return, they benefited from the lord's generosity and good will. A lord bowed to the king and his dictates but outside of that, he was in total control of his domain. Lucky for his peons (a.k.a. his servants) Hunny was a gentle and kind person that you couldn't help but love.

"The Host Club is now closed for today." Kyouya announced to one and all.

Disappointed, the remaining females booked appointments for the following day and left the third music room. The members put away the various articles used in today's program or piled them together to take them home.

Thank goodness, Haruhi thought. Today was now over and she could get on to the most important part of her day: studying for tomorrow's classes and the coming exams. Better do it tonight than wait for tomorrow. It was quieter than usual today, Haruhi knew. She had a bad feeling that tomorrow would be noisy and troublesome enough to make up for it.

She sighed. There was only so much that she could do as a single person when the rest of them became embroiled in whatever new scheme came their way. At least she knew she could count on Mori to rescue her from Tamaki's runaway emotions or the twin's outrageous behavior if they became too much for her to deal with.

But I need to stop reading so much medieval literature. It's affecting my thought processes. She thought wryly. But it was still nice to have your own personal knight in shining armor she thought and smiled.

Mori, who caught the action, returned it with tender eyes and a gentle smile.

"Takashi! Haru-chan!" Hunny bounced up to her. "Are you ready to go home?"

Haruhi nodded and locked eyes with Mori. "Yes, take me back to my castle."

"Eh?" Hunny tilted his head slightly and looked up at her with adorable confusion.

"Nothing." Haruhi shook her head. A small tint of red rode her cheeks. "Ready to go to the aquarium?"

"Yep!" Hunny bounced over to the door and waited for the other two to meet him there.

"Takashi?" Haruhi came up to him. "Are you ready?"

Mori nodded. Haruhi whispered, "I'm glad you're my knight, Takashi."

She reached up and touched his face. He captured her hand softly within his bigger one and turned it over and kissed the back like the knights of old. Haruhi pinkened again.

"I'm glad I found you, princess." Mori spoke.

Haruhi shook her head. "I'm the prince."

Mori laughed a little. "True enough. But still the owner of my heart."

It was nice, Haruhi reflected as the three of them left for the aquarium, to have a man that understood you. There wasn't many men out there that could both understand you and have a patient, steely character to put up with girl that was almost too independent. But then there was only one Mori and she would never let him go.


End file.
